Comparative Historiography Research Articles

Plato or Moses? The Use of the Antiquity Argument in Hellenistic Jewish Writings

ABSTRACT In antiquity, apologetic defences often included appeals to an ancient past. Fundamental to the ancient mind was a notion that favoured primitive wisdom over contemporary culture, antiquity over novel discoveries. In the ongoing clashes between cultures and ethnicities which signified the Hellenistic era, this notion was often combined with a competitive search for communal recognition and validity. This article offers a survey of Jewish authors in Hellenistic times, who engaged in this battle for old age. The article shows how various Jewish writers employed the antiquity argument through comparative historiography, in which they traced the roots of civilization to ancient heroes of Israel. The article ends with a discussion on the logic, structure, and purpose of the antiquity argument.

Międzykulturowa interwencja. Dawid Rogacz rozmawia z Q. Edwardem Wangiem

In this interview conducted at the XXIII International Congress of Historical Sciences in Po-znan, Q. Edward Wang (Professor of History at Rowan University in the US and Changjiang Professor of History at Beijing University in China) addresses the main problems in global and comparative historiography. Elaborating upon the background and impact of his scientific con-tributions, Prof. Wang discusses the modernization of Chinese historical writing, the challenges of comparative historiography, the status of historical studies today, and the future of historical theory. In addition, he refers to his recent studies in culinary history as instances of a new model of global historiography.

Library parks in Colombia, or libraries in parks. Background of a political and architectural discourse

This paper is the result of research whose objective was to investigate the genesis of Library Parks as an expression of political and architectural discourse in Colombia. For this purpose, a methodology based on a comparative historiography of the phenomenon of libraries and educational buildings built in public parks as a government policy at the beginning of the 20th century, and later, in the interstice between the 20th and 21st centuries, is proposed. The conclusions show that, contrary to the general perception, the library park model is not an ex novo phenomenon of the contemporary world. In this sense, the results evidence not only the identification of a set of antecedent projects of this phenomenon, built between 1932 and 1940, but also a set of existing correlations between political and architectural discourses, as a predetermining reflection of a system of thought that gave rise to the library park model.

DEATH Historiography In Islam dan French historical tradition: Study on Wafiyāt al-A’yān wa Abnāu Abnāi Zamān and Western Attitude Toward death from The Middle Age to The Present

Historiography of death between Arab-Islam and French tradition has different root and models. As Arabian model wafiyat came into being as new systematic mode of writing bibliographical dictionary, it is French la histoire la morte was the French innovation in social history by Annales school. To make clear comparison, two book are selected that are Wafiyāt al-A’yān wa Abnāu Abnāi Zamān by Ibn Khalikan and Attitude tward Death by Philip Aries. To study these two books, comparative historiography is applied to make a comparison and contrast between genre, style and sources. As the result of taking study of comparison, so there are similarity and differences between two historical tradition in the from of content and method of writing history. These two types are similar in one common trait constructed the idea based on death. However, it is clearly different in as much as that Arabic wafiyat is prosopography and has relgious content and intend; meanwhile French death historiography is social history and growth in the idea of study of mentalites.

Diagramming a Timeline of Dance

This article traces the developments of the project For There to be a Timeline — GENEALOGIES OF DANCE AS Art PRACTICE IN PORTUGAL from 2016 to 2021, wherein a state of the art regarding the production of dance performances throughout the twentieth century was generated. In particular, a chronological map with entries referring to protagonists, institutions, events and contexts was drawn heuristically, each iteration corresponding to the exhibition of a different timeline, taking place in theatrical venues as well as independent art spaces, and institutional museums. This procedure allowed for essaying temporary versions of the histories being told, resulting in a collection of perspectives which offer an overview of dance in Portugal throughout the twentieth century. The comparative historiography which guided the research from the beginning is expounded and analyzed, in particular with regards to the socio-political, but also of pedagogies and critical reception. The various ways in which the collected contents were shown in relation to one another and in relation to the chronological representations of the century are discussed, allowing to comment on the project character and results, in particular its open endedness and potential reformulation.

Using the “Sociocultural Identity of Russia” Category in Teaching Humanities to Pedagogical Universities Students

Problem and Aim. The article actualizes the problem of using the category of Russia’s socio-cultural identity in the process of teaching humanitarian disciplines to students studying at pedagogical universities. The purpose of the article is to present the effectiveness of using this category for the formation of social, pedagogical and professional competencies of bachelor, master and postgraduate students. Tracing the reflection of this category in the works of Russian thinkers, focused on the issues of civilizational identity, historical paths and destinies of Russia, the teacher contributes to the realization the educational potential of the domestic humanities, which contributes to the establishment traditional values in the Russian youth national self-consciousness. Methodology. An interactive dialogue with participants in the educational process (lectures, laboratory classes, special courses, special seminars and webinars, research presentations) made it possible to determine the degree to which students master the methods of comparative and retrospective historiography, functional and civilizational approaches inherent in research in the subject area of intellectual history, as well as methodology and philosophy of history. In conclusion, it is concluded that the use of the category of socio-cultural identity of Russia as an interdisciplinary one in its discursive status allows students of pedagogical universities to form competencies in several areas of modern historical education (professional, educational, pedagogical, research) at once.

Kuwait Is the Past, Dubai Is the Present: A Comparative Historiography of Spectacular Urbanism and Architectural Promotion in the Gulf

Kuwait Is the Past, Dubai Is the Present: A Comparative Historiography of Spectacular Urbanism and Architectural Promotion in the Gulf

The epistemic evolution of market authority: Big data, blockchain and China’s neostatist challenge to neoliberalism

Neoliberalism initially invoked the authority of competitive markets as the ideal epistemic mechanism for socio-economic coordination. Yet, the rise of neoliberal ‘market society’ in Western advanced economies since the 1970s has been underpinned by a normative political theory that advocates the reconfiguration of society and politics around the authority of economic theory and knowledge in both production, but especially finance. Conversely, the reform-era development of China’s ‘socialist market economy’ has been underpinned by an insistence on retaining centralized political power over the allocation of financial capital. This article argues that the rise of digital algorithmic technologies constitutes one means by which these contrasting politico-economic visions are being more closely reconciled. It investigates the ways in which China’s ongoing construction of an explicitly authoritarian capitalism is being facilitated by the deployment of complementary financial technologies that enable the Chinese Communist Party to embrace the micro-level epistemic coordinative function of markets without relinquishing macro-level political power and juridical sovereignty over these markets. Following a comparative historiography of the praxis of ‘neoliberal’ and ‘neostatist’ political theory in contemporary capitalism, two case studies of blockchain-enabled currency and big-data driven credit scoring in China illustrate the emergent Fintech foundations of Chinese authoritarian capitalism. The findings contribute to our understanding of how markets are being reshaped by new algorithmic technologies, as well as illuminate some of ideological contradictions in existing conceptions of markets as (neo)liberal institutions at the centre of capitalist political economy.

WHAT IS ISLAMIC HISTORY?

ABSTRACTEfforts to define the concepts “Islam” and “history” have separately engendered rich debates with long intellectual genealogies. Both debates serve as a foundation for this essay's attempt to delimit the subject of “Islamic history.” However, the essay also argues that a close examination of the interaction between the two categories offers its own insights. Chief among these is the argument that a reliance on subjects’ self‐ascription as “Muslims” for definitions of “Muslim” and “Islamic” is far more than the empty or “nominal” approach that some critics have described. Rather, Islamic self‐ascription is historically entangled, both an artifact of historical processes and an evocation of them, even an integral element of the phenomenon it seeks to define.The essay begins with an evaluation of the “islams not Islam” approach to defining the Islamic, rooting the argument not only in self‐ascription—a common social‐science tool for category definition and boundary making—but also in Islamic historical traditions themselves. It then demonstrates this historical rootedness through an unusually difficult test case: Chinese‐language Islams that eschewed the words “Islam” and “Muslim.” After proposing a definition of “Islamic history,” one that is particularly open and expansive, the article outlines some common characteristics of Islamic history across its many forms, asking what makes it distinct and where it can contribute to a global comparative historiography. Finally, it argues that when we generalize about these traditions, describing the features most widely shared among them, we find an Islamic history that reflects and substantiates the centrality of self‐ascription in delineating the scope of Islam.

Nicolas Standaert, The Intercultural Weaving of Historical Texts: Chinese and European Stories about Emperor Ku and His Concubines. Leiden Series in Comparative Historiography 9. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Pp. vi+367. US$150.00 (cloth).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewsNicolas Standaert, The Intercultural Weaving of Historical Texts: Chinese and European Stories about Emperor Ku and His Concubines. Leiden Series in Comparative Historiography 9. Leiden: Brill, 2016. Pp. vi+367. US$150.00 (cloth).Ori SelaOri Sela Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by History of Humanities Volume 4, Number 1Spring 2019 Sponsored by the Society for the History of the Humanities Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/701996 Views: 38Total views on this site For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Two essays: I. The desert and the city: reading the history of civilisation in Ibn Khaldun after Edward Gibbon. II. Rational enthusiasm and angelicality: the concept of prophecy in Ibn Khaldun and Edward Gibbon

ABSTRACTThe Desert and the City and Rational Enthusiasm are experiments in comparative historiography, based on no more evidence than is necessary in order to carry out the comparison, since to pursue either text into its historical context would be to pursue its intended meaning and no longer to compare it with the other. The essays aim to imagine an eighteenth-century judgement on a fourteenth-century text, intended not to support such a judgement, but to imagine what Gibbon would have said of Ibn Khaldun and to understand each the better by doing so; in particular, to show how the former would have responded to the latter as he has become known to us since the twentieth century.

Seeing things differently: contrasting narratives of British and German photographic intelligence during the Second World War

ABSTRACTThis study examines Anglo-American narratives of British and German photographic intelligence (PI) in Europe during the Second World War. According to these narratives, Germany relegated PI to tactical and operational applications; by contrast, Britain performed these same functions but also made strategic use of the discipline. This paper reevaluates how British and German PI actually differed. It further examines whether each side’s successes and failures were within the ‘agency of agencies’ – how much did PI successes and failures directly result from intelligence organizations’ choices and actions? Finally, this paper identifies implications of these narratives for comparative intelligence studies and historiography.

‘If they do not want to work and suffer, they must starve and die.’Irish and Finnish famine historiography compared

The 19th century is often depicted as an age of great transformations: industrialism, nation-building and economic progress. Likewise, it is also the period when Europe was struck by the last great famines during peace-time. In this article, I will, first, give a short presentation of how the famines in Finland in 1866–1868 and Ireland in 1845–1852 unfolded and, second, offer some insights into the similarities between these famines, especially with respect to the relief policies adopted by authorities. Finally, the article will focus on how the question of food exports and imports acquired markedly different historiographical meanings. Comparative historiography, especially when applied to famine historiography, provides a hitherto neglected resource that can shed light on how national histories are written and interpreted and the extent to which they might reflect a truly essential peculiarity about the societies in question.

比较历史学—当时不受重视而事后意义重大事件相关研究

比较历史学—当时不受重视而事后意义重大事件相关研究

A Question of 'legitimate Pride'? the 38th (welsh) Division at the Battle of Mametz Wood, July 1916

The blooding of 38th (Welsh) Division at Mametz Wood on the Somme in July 1916 remains an iconic and controversial episode in both Wales’s First World War history and its legacy. It has come to stand as part-proxy for the battlefield experience of Welsh troops in general. The action, though ultimately successful, was costly. Many observers judged the Division’s performance disappointing. Drawing on a range of comparative historiography, modern scholarship and archival research, this essay reassesses 38th’s record in the battle.

The Buddhist translation histories of ancient China (c. 150–1276) and Tibet (c. 617–1750): a comparative study

Despite the parallels between the Buddhist translation histories of ancient China and Tibet – where Buddhism was introduced, translated into the local languages and then proceeded to follow widely divergent paths – no study comparing the two traditions has been published. In both regions, thousands of Buddhist texts were translated but into markedly different languages and in different historical and cultural contexts. What strategies did the translators of ancient China and Tibet use and how did they carry out their translations? Who were the translators, and what commonalities and differences can be found between the two traditions in terms of translation experience? This study aims to answer these and other questions by employing Wakabayashi’s model of comparative translation historiography. Since Wakabayashi’s work was published, no scholar of Translation Studies has utilized or advanced the methodology that she put forth. It is hoped that this study will help to fill this gap, that progress may be made toward advancing this methodology within the discipline of Translation Studies, and that a contribution will be made to historical studies of these regions. Data gathered in the study will be presented and analyzed, and the difficulties in carrying out this type of comparative research will be discussed.

Revolution as Restoration: Guocui xuebao and China's Path to Modernity, 1905–1911. By Tze-ki Hon. Leiden Series in Comparative Historiography, Edited by Axel Schneider and Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik. Leiden: Brill, 2013. xiv, 135 pp. $119.00 (cloth).

Revolution as Restoration: Guocui xuebao and China's Path to Modernity, 1905–1911. By Tze-ki Hon. Leiden Series in Comparative Historiography, Edited by Axel Schneider and Susanne Weigelin-Schwiedrzik. Leiden: Brill, 2013. xiv, 135 pp. $119.00 (cloth).

Re-evaluating syndicalist opposition to the First World War

It has been argued that support for the First World War by the important French syndicalist organisation, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT) has tended to obscure the fact that other national syndicalist organisations remained faithful to their professed workers’ internationalism: on this basis syndicalists beyond France, more than any other ideological persuasion within the organised trade union movement in immediate pre-war and wartime Europe, can be seen to have constituted an authentic movement of opposition to the war in their refusal to subordinate class interests to those of the state, to endorse policies of ‘defencism’ of the ‘national interest’ and to abandon the rhetoric of class conflict. This article, which attempts to contribute to a much-neglected comparative historiography of the international syndicalist movement, re-evaluates the syndicalist response across a broad geographical field of canvas (embracing France, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Britain and America) to reveal a rather more nuanced, ambiguous and uneven picture. While it highlights the distinctive nature of the syndicalist response compared with other labour movement trends, it also explores the important strategic and tactical limitations involved, including the dilemma of attempting to translate formal syndicalist ideological commitments against the war into practical measures of intervention, and the consequences of the syndicalists’ subordination of the political question of the war to the industrial struggle.

The invisible framework: Antony Black and the foundations of comparative historiography

Antony Black's work is distinctive because of its continuous focus on various manifestations of the history of group life, and its theoretical recognition of the fact that one way of comparing and discriminating between political cultures is to use as a common criterion the structures of the relationships that are apparently universal amongst historic (i.e. literate) cultures. The paper argues that his approach offers a theoretically grounded framework for comparative historical analysis which can generate testable hypotheses about the similarities and differences between societies.

(Re)Considering Chinese American Literature: Toward Rewriting Literary History in a Global Age

Chinese American literature as a sub-stream of both Chinese and American literature, has long been neglected in either Chinese literary history or American literary history as the writers have uncertain identity or multi-identities. But it is such uncertain identity or identities that enable them to become significant for scholars of cross-cultural studies. Their literary practice is significant to literary scholars in general, especially to those of Chinese-Western comparative studies and literary historiography. Their achievements are not only important to the rewriting of American literary history as most of them write in English, but also point out a new orientation of literary historiography by means of language as some still persist in writing in Chinese.